MY CHALLENGES /AIMS FOR FUTURE WORK

 MY CHALLENGES /AIMS FOR FUTURE WORK

During my practicum, I realized there are three areas I still need to focus on. They are time management, giving instructions, and my accent. Even though I clearly determine the duration of my lesson and set the timing for each activity, I find it difficult to follow them. I know what might account for it is the fact that I want to over-explain. It is one idea that leads to another, and if I am not careful, I may deviate from my lesson. I always see all of them connected to the topic and important to understand the content. The students’ questions might also make me change the course of my lesson because I feel I must satisfy their curiosity. Personally, I wouldn’t mind if I handled the class alone, but it becomes a serious problem for me if I must always be interrupted because of time. I feel I missed it all.

About giving instructions, I am trying to put them in point form, make them concise and simple, and avoid lengthy descriptions so that the students are not confused, bearing in mind their language level. concerning my accent, this is probably the greatest challenge of all. I am happy to have identified it as a problem, and I intend to put my teacher’s recommendations into practice these holidays. Listen to native speakers more, in movies or other video tutorials. I also make use of Adrian Underhill’s chart on sound foundations. I have joined a group of English language speakers designed to provide a forum for people to practice their skills with native or English speakers. Their physical meetings are organized weekly.

During my GPTE program, I have learned completely new educational concepts which I would like to take to my home country. I love the new system of education that promotes learners’ autonomy, and I hope to open my own school one day, to apply all its principles, and make students enjoy all the benefits of quality education. In order to achieve my goal, intend to keep close collaboration with my course teachers for their continuous scaffolding, take more training in teaching English, undertake research in this field and update myself about recent developments. I recently discovered an electronic headset designed to teach pronunciation, and it’s now a must for me to acquire.

FINAL CONCLUSION

              During my practicum, everything went well, and the only difficulty was getting to the site. I was privileged to have three groups of students to observe (Grade 4, 7, and 8), with the mentorship of two teachers (Ms. Monika and Ms. Joanna)!  I am extremely grateful for their unconditional support, and that of the staff and the technicians who helped with the projector and the printing. My mentors were available for all my needs and questions, and they motivated me with their trust. They gave me the lead to decide what to teach and how to go about it. the feedback I received from them was so constructive, and the feedback from the students uplifted me. The participation and enthusiasm of the students couldn’t have been more welcomed. My course teacher wouldn’t have had a better choice for my practicum, I really thank her for this opportunity.

              I am particularly proud of the quality of my lessons, and the type of information I gathered for the students, and I am happy to be the one who thought it to them. I would certainly be remembered for this. Something I would do differently would be to reduce my talking time and give more pair or group activities to students to brainstorm on. But I was guided by time and I wanted them to have all that I prepared. I just hope they make good use of the knowledge in a real-life context as they grow, and impact the future.